October 7, 2003 - One Day in Roma

We had a two hour layover in Amsterdam, so we went on a hunt for Shiseido under-eye cream - we found it in a perfume store in the airport (Schipol is an amazing shopping experience for an airport). We arrived on time in Rome; I waited at baggage carousel 10 for over 1/2 hour before we noticed that they changed our flight to carousel 11. We took a taxi ride, well, perhaps an amusement park ride - the cab driver went really fast and weaved through traffic in amazing ways - I laughed and Aviva just got white knuckles. I believe it gave Aviva a headache. We got to the hotel, the Hotel Colosseum, and took showers (hours in airplanes with a transfer in the middle will do that to you). The hotel isn't anything special - no ice, no pop machine, but at least the beds are firm and they get one english language TV station, BBC World.

We walked. And we walked some more. The Colosseum and the Forum are right by the hotel.

A view of the remains of the Forum

We walked all the way to the Pantheon, stopping to have a small gelato on the way.

The front of the Pantheon	A view of the dome from inside	How the sun shines inside the dome

We then hiked over to the Piazza Navona, then down to the Tiber River to buy a print at a print shop.

One of the fountains at Piazza Navona

We walked back to the Piazza Navona and ate at Tre Scalini; don't bother, its a tourist hangout and the food is very average. We found a taxi stand one block away, rode back to the hotel and bought some pop and water and then went back to the room, repacked a bit and crashed for the night.